North Shore watch.

Regina Students Want College To Be Abolished --electoral One, That Is

Frustration over the presidential election saga has reached Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, where students are petitioning to abolish the Electoral College.

Laura Mathews, 17, a senior, came up with the idea during a political science class this week. She has already collected 200 signatures of people who agree the nation should use a popular vote to determine election results. She plans to circulate the petition outside her church and elsewhere in the community before mailing it off to senators "and whoever the president may be, because we don't know right now."

"The Electoral College was established a long time ago," said Mathews, who lives in Chicago's Edgebrook neighborhood. "We as the senior class feel it is ridiculous."

Endowment surprise: A family whose five sons graduated from Evanston Township High School has awarded the school an early holiday gift of $250,000, to be used over the next 15 years to pay for enrichment activities for disadvantaged students.

The gift from the family of Dr. Martin Unterman, whose sons graduated between 1962 and 1978, was unsolicited, school spokeswoman Kathy Miehls said. The Alumni Association also began an endowment drive in May that so far has reaped $80,000 toward college scholarships, she said.

"Alums are starting to give back at ETHS in a very serious way," Miehls said. "To some extent you would expect that kind of thing at the collegiate level or for independent schools--tuition schools. But to do it for a public school, where we educate everyone, I think, is very special."

Boot 'em: Niles parking scofflaws could find their cars immobilized if they've accumulated 10 or more unpaid parking violations. The Niles Village Board on Tuesday approved using the Denver boot on offending cars parked on public property.

Vehicles will not be booted if parked on private property, and private businesses are prohibited from booting cars in their parking lots. Mayor Nicholas Blase estimates that 20 to 30 cars in the village are eligible for the treatment.

Hazardous substances: The Wilmette Village Board on Tuesday approved a $26,514 contract for Harding ESE of Chicago to develop a plan for extracting benzene, a carcinogen, from the soil in Howard Park near Ridge Avenue and 17th Street.

Officials discovered the hazardous substance when they removed leaking underground gasoline storage tanks as required by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency two years ago, said George Noble, village environmental consultant. The gasoline was used to fuel police cars.

Assistant Village Manager Michael Earl said the spill has not contaminated groundwater or moved off-site and said no park visitors have come in contact with the spill because it is underground. Officials plan to begin removal this spring.

Budget approved: The Wilmette Village Board also passed a $41.2 million budget for 2001, calling for a 4.6 percent tax increase to help fund capital improvements that include street repairs and upgraded wiring for the village's 75-year-old street lighting system.

The tax levy will add about $34 to the average residential property tax bill, Earl said. Other infrastructure improvements include water main replacement and improvements to Village Hall.

2 Trevians for one: New Trier Township High School has selected junior Betsy Ure and senior Jeremy Chapman to serve as athletic team mascot at alternating games.

They replace Bob Danstrom, who lost the job after he refused to wear the school's new Trevian costume. Danstrom was asked to audition for the role again and was given a choice to wear the old costume. He declined.